


Memories Like Scars

by YumeAino



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Amnesia, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Romantic Fluff, Sexual Tension, Temporary Amnesia, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27255463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeAino/pseuds/YumeAino
Summary: Cid Garlond and his new adventurer companion, the samurai woman Yume Aino,  recover Cid’s lost memories and discover they have much in common, and that all they need is right there in front of them.
Relationships: Cid nan Garlond & Warrior of Light, Cid nan Garlond/Original Character(s), Cid nan Garlond/Warrior of Light
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

After a long, tiring day in the way too cold climes of the Coerthas Central Highlands, Cid Garlond sunk into the steaming water of the mountain hot springs, and sighed deeply as his aching muscles began to loosen up from all of his pent up tension.

The foray into the Stone Vigil tomorrow morning to find the airship was going to be hell, as fighting off a horde of dragons was not his idea of a good time. So, as soon as the Ishgardian knights were whispering among themselves about slipping away from their posts to take a dip in the hot springs, Cid knew that it was just what he needed to relax.

He ran his hand through his long, white hair and closed his eyes, as the sun began to set and the sky burned with brilliant reds and oranges.

Suddenly, Cid was alerted to soft footsteps lightly crunching snow underfoot. He opened his silver eyes and looked up to see his adventurer companion walking up to him.

Her name was Yume Aino, and she hailed from the distant, Far Eastern nation of Hingashi. At first glance, he never would have guessed that she was a warrior, as she was petite and demure with a soft, melodic voice and an ever gentle smile.

Yet, when she is on the battlefield, her demeanor transforms entirely. She is fierce, aggressive, determined, and to be perfectly honest, downright dangerous. Before he had met Yume, whenever he had heard of a samurai being able to take a man’s head with one slice of their sword, he thought it a mere exaggeration. Now, he can fully believe it.

The samurai was wrapped in a black silk kimono, and her raven hair was tied up into a ponytail with a small scattering of blue flowers sitting in her hair above her ivory horn. Her eyes were a piercing blue that Cid could spot from a malm away, but they seemed to be smiling back at him.

“Yume, I see you too have heard the rumors of the hot springs! Care to join me?” Cid beamed as he leaned back and breathed in deeply.

Yume smiled gracefully at Cid before she replied, “You do not mind? If you prefer your solitude, I can come back later.”

“Nonsense! Come, join me!” Cid waved at her, beckoning her over towards him.

“Alright then. If you insist...” Yume giggled as she walked over to the edge of the steaming water.

She started unwrapping the layers of her kimono and laying the fabric upon a flat rock beside her. She then shook off the last layer of clothing to reveal a black bikini, that left little to the imagination. There were small strips of black cloth covering her breasts and private areas, but that was it.

Cid’s eyes grew wide as he looked upon the Raen woman in amazement. She had nearly flawless skin with several large patches of ivory scales that adorned her arms, hands, hips, and thighs that matched the scales on her neck and face. He quite knew he was staring, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

His mind began to wonder as he imagined what it felt like to run his hands along her curves. What would it be like to feel her soft skin transition to those smooth scales?

The fact that Cid was staring right at her almost naked flesh was not lost on her. Yume glanced downwards to where his silver eyes were locked on and she immediately assumed that he noticed the scar tissue that spanned across her abdomen from her right hip towards her belly button. Her rather large scar that was gnarled, enflamed, unsightly, ghastly...

It was no wonder that Cid kept his gaze upon her. Yume closed her eyes and sighed, trying her best to fight back the tears that accompany all of those memories the scar holds.

“It is a horrible sight... I know. I apologize if I distract you from your relaxation,” she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

Yume was shaken from her thoughts as she heard a sound she had not expected. It was a deep, belly laugh from her Garlean companion. Her eyes shot open and her face contorted to showcase the immense shock.

Cid held his own abdomen as he fought against laughing any harder.

“Im sorry... I’m not laughing at you. I laugh at the fact that you could possibly think you are disturbing me.”

His laughter died down as he smiled back at her with a gleam in his silver eyes.

“Though you are quite the distraction, indeed. Heh, actually, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.”

Yume’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She simply stared back at Cid without a sound.

Cid quickly realized that he had, in fact, spoken those words out loud. His face turned a shade of red that resembled Dalamud, and he looked as though he wanted to sink into the water and drown himself.

The Raen began to giggle as she noticed his reddened face. “I am flattered. You are quite handsome yourself, Cid.” She then winked at the white haired Garlean to tease him further.

Cid waved his hands in order to shake off his embarrassment. “Ahem, ANYWAY!” He pointed towards where he assumed she had meant, at her scar across her abdomen. “Were you injured in battle?”

Yume sat down in the water across from the Garlean man and closed her eyes as a flood of images and sensations came to the surface, some that would shatter the atmosphere of the present moment if she divulged them to Cid.

“Not exactly... though I wish it were as simple as that.”

From her solemn expression and her cryptic answer, Cid dared not push the issue further. He simply nodded in response.

“That’s alright. I apologize if I was prying too much.”

He pointed to his own chest and placed his finger on a small scar of his own, right in the center. “I have one as well, though I haven’t the faintest idea of how I got the damned thing.”

Cid sighed and breathed in the steam. “I wish I could remember more than I do. Then perhaps I could not be such a burden upon you and Alphinaud.”

Yume smiled sweetly and came up closer to Cid, sitting right next to him. She looked directly into his silver eyes as she spoke softly.

“There is an old saying in Hingashi: the past and the future do not exist. There is only the present moment, only here and now. Sometimes it is hard to not vex over what has happened or worry what will come to pass, I know. Still, whenever I stop and focus on this moment, everything starts to fall into place.”

Cid’s heart felt lighter than air as he longingly looked into Yume’s bright blue eyes. “The present moment, nothing else exists, huh?”

His voice deepened as he reached for her hand with his own and grasped it firmly but gently. “Then there is only you... and me... and the hope for a brighter future.”

“Precisely.” Yume placed her other hand on top of his, noting how much larger his hand was than hers, yet it was so strong and warm.

“You are not a burden. From what I have seen and heard, you are a man of principle, of conviction, who fights for what is right. You are a hero, Cid Garlond. On the contrary, if all the rumors are true, then Eorzea needs you once again.”

Cid blushed once more as he withdrew his hand and waved at her in dismissal. “Now you are embarrassing me, and I am not the one who needs praising. You, my friend, are the hero here. You are the one who lays her life on the line every single day, with no thought of the reward. You simply wish to help however you can. I don’t know a person who is more deserving of the hero title than you.”

Yume smiled as she smirked at Cid. “Well then, we will just have to agree to disagree.”

Cid laughed once more and folded his arms in front of him. “Has anyone ever told you how stubborn you are, Yume?”

“Not lately. But so are you,” she replied with a cheeky grin.

With a nod, he looked towards the setting sun and smiled. “Touché.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a rewrite of an ARR in game cutscene of when the WoL helps Cid recover his memories, so a lot of Cid’s dialogue is not mine as it’s actually the in game dialogue. I did add in a bunch of additional stuff though. Hope you enjoy!

A gentle breeze blew through Yume’s raven hair as she walked onto the Gridanian airship platform. She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her right horn as she approached thewhite haired man waiting for her.

When Cid Garlond turned to face her, she could not help but smile. Just why he had this particular effect on her, she really couldn’t explain. She could not stop the butterflies in her stomach and her heart would flutter at the mere sight of him. All she knew was that he has the most brilliant smile, a strong jawline covered with a short, white beard, long, white hair, shining silver eyes, muscular arms, broad shoulders, and a sculpted chest that she always catches herself staring at for far too long... Yes, he was a beautiful man, there was no denying that.

Yet, what she admired most was not skin deep: his jovial nature, his humor, his intelligence, his determination, and most of all, his kindness. Cid helped her to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the attack on the Scions, with his quick wit and endless compassion for others.

She couldn’t understand it herself, but she felt she could trust him... completely. Such a rarity indeed for the Raen ronin who had left everything behind in Hingashi.

“Yume, you have returned! And just in time too.” Cid smiled as he gestured towards the Enterprise behind him. “According to my tests, the device is now functioning in perfect harmony with the crystal ─ meaning we can leave whenever you're ready.”

Yume smiled back at him before gently nodding. “That is good to hear. I am ready to go if Alphinaud is.” She gestured to her fellow Scion, who was still talking to one of the airship platform attendants.

The Garlean man nodded in return, then sighed deeply.

“But you must understand: tests can only tell one so much.” Cid folded his arms and looked towards the Enterprise.

“Until we approach the Howling Eye ─ until we attempt to breach the barrier itself... I cannot be sure that this will work...”

Yume’s sapphire eyes grew wide as she realized what Cid was about to tell her. Not that she hadn’t been in life or death situations before; she had been in far too many for her to count. Still, her heart seized up with the thought of Cid and Alphinaud being in harm’s way. If anyone should be ready to die it was her... not either of her newfound companions.

Cid hesitated a moment before he spoke once more.

“I think it only fair to tell you that there is a small but statistically significant chance that the crystal could trigger a massive...”

Cid shook his head before he unfolded his arms and continued, “Hmmm... Mayhap it is better that we remain positive.”

“Yes, we should foremost be positive, and assured that we will make it through the barrier... then we will defeat Garuda. Doubt will cost you everything,” Yume answered with a calming intonation.

Yume giggled as she looked up to the sky in thought. “A great general once said, ‘Victory belongs to the most persevering’...” She then shrugged as she looked back to Cid, “...or so I have been told anyway.”

The Garlean smiled once more as he seemed to hesitate for a moment. Cid then breathed in deeply as he reached out his hand and caressed Yume’s ivory scaled cheek, while he placed his other hand on her shoulder. Yume’s breath caught in her throat as Cid’s silver eyes looked directly into hers.

“Yume, I want to thank you. For reuniting me with my ship, for trusting in me to develop this plan... for everything. You've helped me to rediscover a part of myself I'd forgotten. I am not the man I once was, and I do not know if I ever shall be... but I  do know one thing: this feels right.”

Yume placed her hand over his as she leaned into his touch. Her heart was beating rapidly as she forced herself to stop shaking from the emotions that threatened to overflow.

“There is no need to thank me, Cid. I am glad... glad that we met.”

Cid’s silver eyes softened as Yume continued, “This feels right for me too... as if this was meant to be. I just know that if you are by my side, everything will be alright.”

Cid ran his thumb over her scales on her cheek and brushed his hand down the side of her face till he took his hand back.

He chuckled for a moment, “Ahem... My apologies for the sudden outpouring of sentiment. I would have waited until after the mission, but... well, you understand.”

Yume simply nodded in response before the short elezen in blue and white coughed loudly, finally catching everyone’s attention, “Well, if we are done here, then let us be on our way.”

Alphinaud squeezed himself in between Cid and Yume to step onboard the airship, exasperation set on his face. The two simply shrugged at each other in response before following Alphinaud onto the airship themselves.

———

Once the Enterprise took to the air, Cid was at the helm with Yume standing vigil right by his side. Alphinaud was standing a few fulms behind Cid, his arms crossed while staring out at the cloud filled sky.

Cid reached up and took off his signature goggles, revealing his Garlean third eye. He stared down at the goggles in his hand with a look of longing in his eyes. After a few moments, Cid grabbed his forehead hard, as if the third eye itself was hurting.

“Damn it!” Cid cursed to the winds as he turned towards the Raen.

“I... I once flew in this airship. And I was not alone,” Cid spoke slowly as his mind’s fog began to clear, “There were adventurers on board... adventurers like you, Yume.”

“Cid, are starting to remember something?” Yume inquired.

“I... I think...”

He then was interrupted by a sharp pain in his head. Grasping at his head in a fruitless attempt to stop the sudden painful attack, Cid then turns to Yume with a look of shock mixed with confusion.

Yume gasps as she reaches out to him, but it is no use. She knows what is coming.

A bright light envelops the both of them, as they are transported to an entirely different space. It was a vast empty space filled with a soft light. When Yume looked behind her, Cid was standing there exactly as he was moments before, seemingly stunned at what he was seeing.

“Yume? Is that you?”

Nodding back at him, Yume breathlessly spoke, “Yes... but... I do not know why you are here with me.”

“Where are we? What is this place?” Cid spun around in utter disbelief at the endless nothing around the two of them.

“This is the space where I view visions of the past. This is the power of the Echo.”

“The Echo? The Echo causes THIS?”

“Sometimes, yes... usually I am seeing events unfold already, of someone’s memories. Other times, this space appears while visions appear to me after a short time. I have had this power for as long as I remember, but I still do not know how to control it... or how it works entirely.”

Cid sighs in exasperation. “Alright, well, we must be here for a reason. Let’s figure out what that is then.”

Yume nodded before she answered him, “Cid, you had said that you flew on the airship with adventurers before, right?”

“Yes... though I had only remembered because I was holding my goggles in my hand.”

Cid held his hand out to Yume, the pair of goggles sitting in his palm. Yume stepped forward and looked down at the goggles. She studied them for a second before Cid spoke aloud his thoughts.

“Just how long have I worn these damn goggles?” Cid sighed as he shook his head. “Wait... I think I am beginning to remember something...”

It was mere seconds afterwards that a small boy ran up to them... a boy with white hair and a Garlean third eye. Yume knew instantly that it was Cid as a child.

Yume smiled at the younger Cid as the present Cid seemingly continued to voice his stream of consciousness aloud.

“Ah, yes. I fancied myself a trendsetter in my younger days. The young prodigy, admired by all... exactly like his father.”

The younger Cid sat down at a desk building a tiny version of what appeared to be Magitek armor. Cid continued, “I was born and raised in Garlemald...”

“It was only natural that the precocious young student should become an engineer. Had his father not done the same?”

Child Cid then got up from the desk, with a distressed look in his silver eyes. The boy walked away and faded away into the emptiness. Yume felt tears come to her eyes as Cid continued, “Father... When did we stop seeing eye to eye?”

Suddenly, the space went dark, then appearing from the darkness, the blood red moon Dalamud hung eerily above them.

Cid’s voice began to shake, “When did Meteor become your everything, and your loved ones cease to matter?” Yume turned to Cid and saw the pain in his eyes. “You abandoned us all. But he was there for me, Father ─ there for me when you were not.”

Yume turned around to see a large man clad in a rust red coat and black Imperial armor. He walked slowly forward and touched the shoulder of who appeared to be Cid a few years younger than he was right now. The armored man looked rather intimidating to be sure, but the younger Cid was not afraid of him. On the contrary, the young Cid seemed to look to the man with admiration in his eyes.

Cid’s voice floated to Yume’s horns as she watched the two figures slowly fade and the soft light return to the space. “Though he proved no better in the end. Gaius was just another man with an all-consuming obsession.”

The Raen’s gaze returned to Cid, who had closed his eyes in contemplation.

“And so I ran ─ left the Empire behind and came to Eorzea, where I built the Ironworks.”

Opening his eyes, Cid looked down at the goggles in his hand. Suddenly, the space erupted into light, and was replaced by the two standing on the deck of the Enterprise, but accompanying them were a younger Cid sans beard, along with Biggs and Wedge, Cid’s assistants that Yume had saved from the Garleans soon after joining the Immortal Flames.

“Eorzea opened my eyes. It was home to so many manner of people, each with their own hopes and dreams. People worth saving. And so I fought beside them. I wanted to prove that my knowledge could serve a nobler purpose. I wanted to prove that there was another way...”

Cid smiled at his younger self, who was looking out onto a night sky filled with stars, with the wind blowing through his white hair. “And it all began that day, when I found my new home...”

The peaceful atmosphere was broken when a burst of light appeared just over the side of the airship. Yume and Cid squinted their eyes as the younger Cid approached the light.

After Yume’s eyes adjusted to the change in brightness, she soon realized that the light was in the shape of a person. “What...?” Yume inquisitively stepped forward to see the figure more clearly. She gasped when she saw who the figure in the light was.

Cid mimicked his younger self and stared in awe at the light, clearly not quite believing what he was seeing.

“How can that be... I always thought it was just a dream...”

Yume shook her head. “This is no dream, it is one of your memories. But, how is it possible?”

Cid’s silver eyes smiled down at her and he laughed lightly, “Of course, that light ─ it was you, wasn't it? All along, it was always you...”

A deep blush adorned Yume’s cheeks as the two watched the scene play out in front of them. The light figure of Yume reaches out to the younger Cid and hands him something. She smiles at him before the light fades away. The younger Cid looks down in astonishment at his open palm and sees the goggles sitting there.

After a few moments, the younger Cid places the goggles on his forehead, clipping them to his third eye. He turned around towards Biggs and Wedge, whom both gave a thumbs up in approval.

Yume held her head with both her left hand as she concentrated on the scene that had played out in front of her very eyes. “I gave you the goggles...? I must have used the Echo to give them to you... but when?”

“Well, I have had these goggles since I first came to Eorzea, before the Calamity. But I could never remember where I had gotten them from. I always thought that vision of you in light was a mere dream. I can’t believe it really happened.”

Cid looked around at their surroundings as the scene began to fade back to the softly lit empty space. “Then again, it’s hard to believe that we are standing here reliving my memories. But here we are.”

Yume turned to Cid, as she furrowed her brow. “I am just not sure when that could have possibly happened. Before the calamity, I was still in Hingashi... in Kugane specifically.”

Cid brought his hand to his chin in thought for a moment. “Yume, think back to that time... what happened five years ago? Or go back further than that—perhaps it will spark that particular memory.”

Yume closed her eyes and shook her head. She knew what will happen if she concentrated too hard on her memories... those times filled with pain and heartache.

Cid, the man she admired, the one who made her heart skip a beat just from one look, a dear friend who had been there for her when she needed someone the most... what would he think of her if he saw who she truly was? Would he turn away from her in disgust?

Her heart would be shattered if he walked away from her now... but she needed to know. She had to know... did she truly have this connection with Cid before they had even met?

((To be continued))


End file.
